My Church Gets it Right

With his Fort Lewis-based Stryker Brigade possibly deploying to Iraq in the coming weeks, Lt. Ehren Watada has picked up the public endorsement of a retired Army colonel and diplomat who also contends the war there is illegal.

Speaking at University Lutheran Church in Seattle, retired Col. Ann Wright said Monday night that the artillery-targeting officer has the right to disobey "illegal orders."

Under principles established during the Nuremberg trials after World War II, she noted, people have an obligation to oppose a government that is conducting a war of aggression.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/274585_watada20.html

... but a fundamental obligation to disobey illegal orders. The United States saw to that, when we prosecuted thousands of German soldiers at Nuremberg for "following orders."

I don't think most people are aware of the precedent Nuremburg set for international law.

All these rightwingers and ignoramouses who get micturated when soldiers dare to question orders... the United States set a huge precedent in prosecuting soldiers who "followed orders" with regards to crimes against humanity. Mind you, the orders themselves were legal under German law and the soldiers would likely have been put to death had they refused to follow their orders, but that made absolutely no difference to the Nuremburg tribunal. Let me repeat: THE NUREMBURG PRECEDENT WAS CREATED AT THE DEMAND OF THE UNITED STATES.

Since then, there has been a standing order for the United States military to consider the legality of each and every order, and to refuse to follow any orders that might be illegal. Under the Nuremburg precedent, that includes orders that might be illegal under international law, not merely national law. If (when?) the Junta is placed before a war crimes tribunal, each and every US servicemember will be subject to investigation and possible prosecution for not refusing illegal orders.